title: Impact of aging on antigen presentation cell function of dendritic cells.
abstract: Older people exhibit increased mortality to infections and cancer as compared to younger people, indicating that aging impairs immunity. Dendritic cells (DCs) are key for bridging the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system by priming antigen specific T cells. Discerning how aging impacts DC function to initiate adaptive immune responses is of great biomedical importance as this could lead to the development of novel therapeutics to enhance immunity with aging. This review details reports indicating that aging impairs the antigen presenting function of DCs but highlights other studies indicating preserved DC function with aging. How aging impacts antigen presentation by DCs is complex and without a clear unifying biological underpinning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, USA; Department of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology